Proto-Basque: *a=ɫhar-gun
Meaning: 1 widow 2 widower
Bizkaian: alargun 1, 2
Gipuzkoan: alargun 1, 2
High Navarrese: alargun 1, 2
Low Navarrese: alhargun 2, alharguntsa 1, (arc) elhargun 1, 2
Salazarese: alargun 1, 2
Lapurdian: alhargun 2, alharguntsa 1
Baztanese: alargun 1, 2
Aezkoan: alargun 1, 2
Zuberoan: alhárgün 2, alhargüntsa 1
Roncalese: alargun 1, 2
Comments: Tentatively, a compound of *a=ɫhar- ‘*wife’ + *gun [obscure, but possibly related to Bsq *higuni ‘hatred, hated’ (q.v.)]. It is unclear whether the oldest meaning is ‘widow’, ‘widower’, or both. An old usage cited by Azkue (from Refranes y sentencias, 1596 CE) has ‘widow’, and per Azkue alharguntegi is ‘pews in church reserved for widows’. If ‘widow’ was primary, *a=ɫhar-gun may have meant ‘wife abandoned (by death of husband)’: see especially the meanings (BN) higuin ‘(man) to put away one’s wife’, (Z-arc) higüin ‘(man) to put away one’s wife; (bird) to abandon one’s eggs’. The northern feminine forms with -tsa are secondary, influenced by Romance (Late Lat. -issa).
